


kiss while your lips are still red

by green_tea31



Series: Cairo Day 2019 [5]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Bromance to Romance, Cairo Day 2019, Car Accidents, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 04:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18439220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_tea31/pseuds/green_tea31
Summary: Mac doesn’t know how long he’s been walking but he’s reaching the end of his rope and it’s probably time to contemplate that he’s not going to make it out of this one alive. He stops and looks around, trying to find a sign that he’s getting closer to civilization but all he sees is white.He tries to take another step but realizes that stopping was a mistake in the first place and his legs give out under him.(Some close calls are just disasters that almost happened. This one becomes a catalyst for change in Mac and Jack's relationship.)





	kiss while your lips are still red

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Cairo Day and the prompt "Close Calls". Posting while sitting in the library and supposedly working on literature research. Isn't procrastination a great skill.
> 
> As always, self-betaed. All mistakes are my own.
> 
> Title from "While Your Lips Are Still Red" by Nightwish.

_Mac is cold, terribly cold. All he wants to do is sleep but he can’t. Sleeping right now would mean an inevitable death sentence and while he’s injured and in pain, he isn’t far gone enough yet to just lay down and give up._

_..._

“We gonna talk about this?” Jack asks carefully while Mac sips at his coffee. It’s not that they can exactly avoid talking, except they probably can because if there’s one thing they’re very good at, it’s ignoring the proverbial elephant in the room.

It had been an actual elephant that one time in Uttar Pradesh with the gun runners but that’s a story for another time.

“Look, Jack,” Mac begins, not looking at Jack at all and he feels his heart clench in response. Mac’s eyes are his most expressive features apart from his hands and without being able to look at them Jack is uncertain where his partner stands.

“This doesn’t have to mean anything…I mean, if you don’t want it to.” Mac puts down his coffee mug and his hands start fidgeting without anything to occupy them with.

...

_With a lot more effort than should be necessary, Mac turns around and manages to get himself halfway up, enough for him to spot the rental car behind him. The force of the crash must have thrown him through the windshield and it’s frankly a miracle Mac isn’t worse off than he is._

_The snow around him is red with blood._

_He should be dead._

_..._

Jack puts his hand over Mac’s and steps closer, using his other hand to tilt Mac’s head up so he can look into his partner’s eyes. Mac is holding back tears.

“Hey, none of that, darlin’.” Mac looks oddly vulnerable like this and Jack is well aware of the fact that he _hates_ being this open with most people and that it’s a rare privilege getting to see the sensitive young man beneath the confident genius.

Jack hopes he’s not the one to break Mac but then again, Mac is also a lot stronger than people give him credit for – than _Jack_ gives him credit for sometimes.

...

_Mac can’t quite remember what happened but he knows one thing. He needs to get out of the cold, out of the snow as soon as possible and since Jack isn’t with him this time, he needs to do it on his own._

_Drawing on every bit of strength he has left, Mac stumbles over to what’s left of his car and thankfully finds his bag with supplies mostly intact. A few quick calculations and he has an approximate idea of where he is and where he needs to go._

_Wrapping his scarf tighter around the lower half of his face, Mac starts walking._

_...  
_

Jack takes a deep breath and puts his heart on the line, something people have often told him he’s very good at.

“I want this to mean _everything_ , Mac. If you leave this up to me, you’re never gonna get rid of me ever again.” Jack tightens his fingers around Mac’s, who looks stunned at his declaration, and starts to draw back, to give his partner a bit of space to think, except Mac doesn’t let him.

Mac steps closer, putting his head on Jack’s shoulder, wetting the skin with the tears he’s no longer able to hold back. Jack steps into the embrace and wraps his arms around Mac who clings to him now, not letting him go.

“Do you have any idea what losing you would have done to me?” Jack mumbles into Mac’s skin who chuckles wetly in response.

“I’m still here, Jack.”

...

_Mac doesn’t know how long he’s been walking but he’s reaching the end of his rope and it’s time to contemplate that he’s not going to make it out of this one alive. He stops and looks around, trying to find a sign that he’s getting closer to civilization but all he sees is white._

_He tries to take another step but realizes that stopping was a mistake in the first place and his legs give out under him._

_He’s going to die out here, alone in the snow and the only thing he can think of is that he should have told Jack that he loved him._

_...  
_

Jack draws back and cups Mac’s face with his hands. “You almost didn’t, though. Don’t do that to me again, you hear me? It’s you go kaboom, I go kaboom…not you slowly freeze to death while I hijack a chopper to find you.” He presses a chaste kiss to Mac’s lips, catching the grin on his partner’s face with his lips.

“Come on, hoss. Let’s clean this up and go back to sleep. Not sure about you but I didn’t get nearly enough of that last night." Jack wriggles his eyebrows, trying, and failing, to be suggestive. Mac can’t suppress his laugh.

He mentally pats himself on the back…making Mac laugh? Check.

...

_Mac is pretty sure he’s started hallucinating. Either that or there really is a Phoenix chopper landing not far away from him. He tries to get up again but his energy is all but gone. A few black-clad figures jump out and make their way over to him. The first to reach Mac is…_

_“Jack.”_

_“Dammit, Mac. I told you splitting up was a bad idea.” Jack drops to his knees next to Mac in the snow and whatever he says next, Mac doesn’t hear because now that Jack is here, Mac is safe and that means he can rest._

_..._

They’re lying in bed, Mac draped over Jack who draws idle patterns on the skin of Mac’s back with his hands. It’s a Sunday and Matty’s made it very clear she doesn’t want to see either of them until Monday.

“What was different this time?” Mac asks into the comfortable silence.

“’Bout what?”

Mac props himself up so he can look at Jack. “We had a lot of close calls over the years... _I_ had a lot of close calls. Why did you jump my bones after this one and not before?”

Jack stops stroking Mac’s skin and contemplates the question for a moment.

“Jump your…first of all, I’m pretty sure it was mutual bone-jumping going on, sweetheart. I might have kissed you, but you weren’t exactly slow on the uptake.”

“True,” Mac chuckles in response.

“And…I don’t know? Guess this one just hit closer to home than usual...reminded me how much I love you…and that you could have died without ever knowing, so…,” Jack continues and watches a slow smile spread over Mac’s face.

“Yeah, Jack. I…I love you, too.”

...

_Jack found him._


End file.
